But what do we do with the top/down structure? The wrong step is to reject it and throw it out. The right step is to engage a process that blends the two power structures into a single, coherent framework of governance and participation. In the third and final show of this sub-series, Dr. Galsworth describes the 3-step process for liberating the hidden power of the empowerment paradigm through the re-distribution of power. Doing this launches executive and value-associate alike on a curve of learning and change that re-defines the roles of each and the outcomes for which each is responsible. Executives identify and drive the company’s vision, mission, values, strategy, systems (WHAT, WHO, WHY). And value-add associates learn to hold a steady focus on HOW. An effective work culture is balanced blending of the two. Let the workplace speak.

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Though showy, playing our differences against each other is not a long -term win. This week, your host and visual workplace expert, Gwendolyn Galsworth, recounts the true story of Pro-Life and Pro-Choice groups doing the hard work of seeking and finding common ground. In so doing, they demonstrate the importance of our learning a new way and breaking the myth of either/or choices. No less so in the workplace where the process begins with an executive decision to invert the power pyramid and develop a new power proposition. Executives then learn a new way as do value-add associates. The result? Alignment and the simultaneous definition of areas of commonality and areas of enduring differences. In short: unity. And throughout, managers and supervisors are caught in the middle. Tune in/learn more.

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After an overview of the factors in determining a company’s true level of organizational readiness for change, Gwendolyn Galsworth, your host and visual conversion expert, digs into the critical contribution your supervisors (and managers) make in cultivating—rather than pushing—the transition from a traditional top-down work culture to one that is empowered. This does not mean supervisors/their bosses surrender their decision-making role or abdicate their own leadership power. Not at all. It means they identify their power contribution and clearly distinguish that from the power contributions that value-add associates can and must make for the enterprise to grow and transform. Hidden within this process are what Gwendolyn’s calls the two pyramids of power—the top/down and the bottom up. Listen as she describes the telling differences between them and how each functions.

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The focus? The crucial role supervisors play—which may not be what you or they expect. Yes, everyone knows it is vital for supervisors/managers to get on board. But in the WTMS process, their job is to strengthen i-driven visuality in associates by: a) keeping a low profile; b) not pushing/supervising in training sessions; and c) not “making” the change happen. Instead, a supervisor seeks to build the confidence, skill and spirited contribution of area employees as they visually convert the work areas. The focus is on ownership, self-leadership, and self-accountability. That’s how your supervisors contribute to your WTMS success and long life. Let the workplace speak.

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She then shares her list of eight indispensable physical elements, in telling detail and with lots of helpful hints. The training room must: 1) be large enough; 2) be clutter-free; 3) have the right equipment; 4) be quiet (noise and sound are not the same thing); 5) have good air; 6) be dark enough (to see visual solutions sharply); 7) have a workable layout (line of sight; good circulation; crescent shape); and 8) have water and refreshments on the inside (NO CHOCOLATE). Then Gwendolyn presents the first five of other nine effectiveness principles. “Inspire First/Then Inform.” “Start Small.” “Everyone Gets Trained.” “Make the Training Room Psychologically safe.” “Get and Keep Your Supervisors Onboard ….” Don’t miss this show. More next week!

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What are the tricks—and the golden secrets? In today’s show, Gwendolyn Galsworth, visual expert and your host, continues to un-nest her ”Work That Makes Sense/WTMS” methodology—this time with a focus on the training function as an indispensable success factor in your WTMS conversion. This is the first in a set of shows that shares powerful, proven training process she has developed for transforming value-add associates into visual thinkers and passionate contributors of visual solutions. Yes, the success of WTMS derives from its dynamic logic, rich training materials—AND from the skill, knowledge and know-how of the WTMS Trainer in charge of instruction. Tune in as Galsworth shares training tips, concepts, tools, and guidelines.

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Just as a new city’s future depends on the design of a quality water system, electrical grid, and roads long before that city can prosper, so must the enterprise prepare for improvement success well before the first training class. After Gwendolyn revisits the Laminated Map and several new applications, she details the importance and process of establishing an official improvement time for your company. Learn the considerations in drafting this policy and how to operationalize it. If you are the ranking site executive this task will fall to you, along with decisions about the pace of change and the consumption of resources. Tune in. Learn more.

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This week, your host and visual workplace expert, Gwendolyn Galsworth, shares six behind-the-scenes elements that ensure the success of your WTMS (Work That Makes Sense) deployment. These need to be in place on the macro-level before the launch: 1) vision place (to keep the initiative on course); 2) systematic methodology/WTMS; 3) excellent training materials; 4) onsite leadership (“3-Legged Stool”); 5) laminated map; and 6) official improvement time policy. Today’s show details the first four, with special emphasis on the 3-Legged Stool, comprised of the Management Champion (who resources/protects WTMS), WTMS Coordinator (in charge of scheduling, logistics, and deployment) and the Steering Team (a group of volunteer value-add associates). Tune in/learn more.

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Now on Chapter 3, she defines the three outcomes that all visual transformation targets. Outcome 1: Achieve a Visual Showcase, a work area that demonstrate high-performance visual performance. Outcome 2: Achieve trackable, bottom line results. Visuality does not attack KPIs directly. Instead, it focuses on transforming the physical environment so that struggle evaporates, and flow not only accelerates but is visually controllable. As a result, KPIs that need to increase, do so—and those that need to decrease, do that. Outcome 3 is to adopt an attitude of learning. As people implement WTMS, they change the process and change themselves in the process—including their thinking and sometimes even their attitudes. That’s what success means in WTMS.

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They are not the same. To think so is to radically limit the contribution each can make to operational excellence. Add to that a parallel misunderstanding about “visual standards” and you have a cognitive and deployment trap of the first order. The trap is the mistaken notion that if we make everything the same, we will a) ensure that the right thing will be done again and again; and b) attain the triple win of repeatability, repeatability, and sustainability. This is not true. Listen as Gwendolyn cautions you to resist this form of Borg thinking. Be careful not to swallow the marketing when you bite into your love of “standards.” Get your terms right and definitions clear. Resistance is not only not futile, it is mission critical. Beware of Borg!

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